


Outsider

by mistynights



Series: From The Other Side [1]
Category: SKAM (Norway)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, First Meetings, Gen, How Do I Tag, M/M, evak if you squint really hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-14
Updated: 2018-11-14
Packaged: 2019-08-23 08:57:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16615892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mistynights/pseuds/mistynights
Summary: Years after the explosions that destroyed the world as we know it, what's left of society hides inside a barrier that will protect them against the nuclear desert left on the outside. Isak is part of a group that goes outside to look for things they can sell or change for food and other resources, taking all the necessary precautions to keep safe when doing so. But what will happen when they find a boy who doesn't seem to need protection against the outside?





	Outsider

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for a contest on Amino. It was supposed to be under 1000 words but it ended up longer and with some ideas for future fics in this universe.  
> Unbetaed, so let me know of any mistakes.

Some people remember the time before the explosions. At least that's what Isak has heard. He doesn't remember, of course, he wasn't even born back then. His mother sometimes talks about it, though, during her times of clarity, and Isak always listens, eyes wide and shining like they rarely do.

His mother talks of green fields, of trees so big it's hard to see their leaves, of lakes and flowers, cities that are not crumbling to the ground. Isak's dad listens too, but it's different for him. He listens with a frown on his face and a wishful glint. It's barely there, but Isak can see it sometimes. His dad remembers too, but he never talks about it.

His mother always starts the same way, "I remember..." and it's like their code, their way of understanding that this is not just another delusion. Isak always stops whatever he might be doing to listen to her stories, to learn about what could have been, but isn't. He likes those stories, he really does, but it's more than that. It's the feeling of warmth he gets when he hears her speak, when she listens to his questions, answers them. It's the feeling of her being there with him, not just her body but also her mind.

*******

He's outside the barrier when he sees the boy for the first time.

Isak's in an abandoned building with Jonas, looking for anything they might be able to change for food, when he sees a mop of gold past a doorway. It's only a flash, something caught from the corner of his eyes, but it makes him freeze. Danger, his brain calls, and Isak has to do the impossible to keep himself from panicking.

"Did you see that?" He asks, even though he knows Jonas was too busy looking inside a drawer to see it. He frowns at his own words. He hates the way his voice sounds through the breathing mask, hates how it muffles it, how it sounds as if he wasn't really there. But it's a necessary evil.

Jonas makes a noise before looking up.

"See what?"

Isak shrugs, it's harder to explain than to let it go. Even he isn't really sure what he just saw. Too tall for an animal, too quiet for a human, to fast for an object being carried by the wind. Too weird.   
Maybe Isak's losing his mind, just like his mother. Maybe spending so much time past the barrier, in the old town has damaged his brain.

But then there's a crash next door and both Isak and Jonas startle. There's someone else here, no doubt. An animal, at the very least.

Jonas takes his knife from his belt and Isak puts a hand on his bat's handle. They share a look and walk towards the door. They've been doing this for so long, they know what the other mean in times of danger.

The next room is almost empty, almost messy, almost dirty, almost as it should be. Almost, but not exactly. The messiness seems deliberate, the dust only covers certain surfaces, only useless things seem to be broken, and there's a human figure standing in a corner.

Shit.

A person

Isak's brain should really learn to prioritize in this situations.

The figure is a boy's, tall and thin, golden hair shining like a crown with the sun that comes through the window (if a hole with a transparent plastic cover can be called a window), clothes so white they practically glow against the sand and ruin that surrounds them.

He doesn't look afraid, despite Jonas' knife or Isak's bat. He just smiles at them from the corner. And that's when Isak realizes that the boy isn't wearing a mask, he isn't wearing any kind of protection. No one moves for a long time.

And then everything happens too quickly. There's a noise behind them, they turn around, see nothing, and when they turn back, the boy is gone.

***

They don't talk about it.

Sana glares at them when she sees how little they've brought, and Eva asks them about it a couple times, but they don't talk about it.

Sometimes Isak wakes up at night and sees Jonas sitting on his cot. Sometimes it's the other way around. But neither of them brings it up.

Some days, Isak worries about the boy. Worries he may be dying out there without any equipment to protect him from the chemicals left by the explosion. Others, he wonders about who the boy is, why he was outside, if he lives there.   
But most days he feels pissed. If this boy can survive outside, what's stopping everyone else from being there too?

"Don't duel on it too much," Jonas mutters one night during dinner and Isak wonders if those words are meant for him or for Jonas. Maybe both.

Jonas doesn't seem to know either.

***

He's at his parents home again. His dad is working, maybe, and Isak is visiting his mother.   
She's knitting with yarn she found who knows where. Yarn's expensive, most things are. Isak always looks for yarn when he's outside, but he never manages to find any.

He likes to watch when his mother knits. It's calming, it keeps his brain away from everything.

"Have you been out much?" His mother asks. It startles him out of his thoughts. She has never felt completely at ease with him leaving so much, and he hates to see her distressed, but someone has to do it.

"Not lately." It's not a lie. He's only been once since the boy, with Sana because Jonas still refuses to go out. His mother nods, starts the next row in her knitting.

"I dreamed you met the angels." Her voice is quiet. Isak's dad doesn't like it when she talks about the angels, doesn't like to be reminded that his wife's mind doesn't work the same way as his. Isak has never cared about it. If it makes her mother happy, then he has no problems with it.

"I haven't met any angels, mama," he says, but his mind forms an image of the boy against his will. "I doubt the angels would like it out there."

"They prefer less crowded places," she replies without looking up. "I don't think they'd like it here."   
Isak hums, looks at the knitting again.

"Would they survive out there."

"Of course they would."

Isak lets the idea play in his mind for a couple of minutes before shaking his head. He's not his mother, he can't find peace in thinking about angels that will come to save them.

He changes the subject, asks her something about the times of old. She tells him about the sea and the monsters that lived on its depths.

When it's time for him to go, she gives him the scarf she'd been working on. He smiles and puts it on despite the heat. Her smile is worth it.

He'll wear it next time he goes outside.

*******

He sees the boy again some time later. Well, technically Sana sees him first, but Isak isn't one for technicalities, so all is good.

"What the hell?" Sana's voice never sounds as muffled as his with the breathing mask. He would be salty about it if he had the time. Sana only curses when she's very surprised, so Isak turns to look towards the place she's pointing.

The boy's there, sitting on top of what Isak guesses used to be a short wall. He's not wearing white today, but a shade of blue lighter than the sky's. Isak would gape if he wasn't wearing the mask.

The boy is looking up at the sky, arms behind him to support his weight. His boots are dirty, so full of mud Isak thinks for a stupid moment those might not be his feet. But they obviously are, even if they clash with the rest of the boy's immaculate appearance.

It takes a moment for Isak to realize, the boy's boots have mud on them. There's no mud anywhere around them. Just miles and miles and miles of sand in between old buildings and broken concrete streets. Another mystery to add about the boy.

Sana starts walking towards him, but on reflect Isak grabs her arm to stop her. His brain knows he shouldn't grab her like that, but it takes him a moment to fully realize it.

"Shit, sorry," he says, taking his hand off her. She narrows her eyes, but doesn't shout at him, even if he deserves it. Small miracles. "We shouldn't get too close."

She opens her mouth to reply but he shushes her. The boy is no longer looking at the sky, he's looking at them.

He's smiling, just like the last time, and Isak can see Sana freeze in her place. She's noticed too, then.

The boy jumps off the wall and walks towards them, steps slow, calculating. He's giving them the chance to leave if they want to.

Isak doesn't want to.

Sana starts walking towards the hover-bike they brought with them, but Isak feels as if he's glued to the ground.

"Isak, come on," Sana shouts. He ignores her. The boy stops once he's in front of Isak and takes something out of his pocket and offers it to him. "Isak!" Sana's shout is louder this time. There's no doubt she'll leave without him if he doesn't move. He extends his hand, takes whatever it is the boy is giving him, and runs towards Sana.

"Sorry, sorry," he whispers as he jumps behind her. She grunts something that sounds like 'whatever' and speeds towards the barrier. Isak puts the thing the boy gave him in one of his jacket pockets, not even bothering to check what it is.

He'll have time for that later.

*******

Sana doesn't want to talk about it. Isak doesn't, either, but he thinks they should. She also doesn't want to talk to him in general. She's angry they had to go back before finishing with the assigned area. Blames him for it, too.

He tries to talk to Jonas but he just shakes his head.

"I'm not ready for everything to change," Jonas says, and Isak nods, gives him space.

So he goes the only other place he can think of, his parents' house.

His dad gives him a relieved smile when he gets there and leaves without another word. Isak rolls his eyes and looks for his mother.

He finds her in the house's only bedroom, sitting on the bed with a closed book on her lap. She looks at the book like it contains the answers to everything.

Isak sits next to her, puts his hand on her shoulder.

"I think I met an angel," he says. He doesn't mean it, but it's the easiest way to get her to pay attention. She doesn't look up, doesn't do anything to make it seem like she heard. Maybe she didn't. Most likely she didn't, but Isak doesn't care. He just needs to talk about it with someone. "There's this boy, mama. He's like no one I've ever seen. He was outside, you know, without any protection. I've seen him twice and he's always smiling. I don't know who he is but, I just want to see him again."

His mother turns her head to look at him and smiles.

"Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth." Her voice sounds dry, like she just woke up, but she's still smiling as she taps the book on her lap a couple times. Her Bible, of course. Isak smiles back. It is not one of his mother's rare days of clarity, apparently, but he doesn't care. Her reciting Bible verses is better than her not talking at all.

"He actually gave me something," Isak says, only then remembering about the thing. He's thankful he's wearing the same jacket as that day outside. He fishes through his pockets until he finds it and pulls it out.

The thing is like nothing he's ever seen in real life. He's seen drawings and old pictures his mother used to keep when he was younger, but he's never seen a real one. There are no plants left outside, and inside they are only found in animal breeding houses and in the richest homes.   
It's a flower, small and yellow, pressed between two thin sheets of transparent plastic. Like the one in the building's room when he first saw the boy.

Isak's mother gasps, takes his hands in her.

"Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin," she says under her breath. She's still quoting the Bible, he knows that. Sometimes Isak wishes he could decipher what she really wants to say, but again, this is better than not talking at all.

"Is it real?" he asks. She takes his hands closer to her eyes and nods, only a little, only enough for him to notice.

*******

He goes outside on his own, in the middle of the night, without telling anyone. Sana is going to kill him when she finds out.

It's a risk Isak is willing to take. He needs to find the boy, he needs to figure out what's going on.

It takes longer than the other times. Maybe it's because this time he's actually looking for him. It annoys him, really, not being able to find a boy that, before, seemed there.

He finally sees him leaning against a house's crumbling wall. His dark green clothes clash against Isak's memories of him.

In the night, the air around him changes. He's no longer this bright boy made of light and splendor. In the night, he's a boy made of mystery and something almost magical. Isak is breathless.

"Who are you?" Isak asks, stepping off the hover-bike (Sana's, of course, which will only make his impending death more painful, but it's the only one he knows how to drive). The boy looks at him in silence. He's smile is not bright anymore, but dangerous. It doesn't make Isak want to run away, though.

"Even," he replies. His voice is barely more than a whisper, but it carries a strength everyone inside the barrier has lost long ago.

"How can you-" Isak shakes his head, unsure of how to voice his questions. The boy, Even, laughs, moves away from the wall and towards him.

"Breathe?" Isak nods, he stops a breath away from him. He's taller than Isak, and has to lean down a little to be face to face with him. "You could too. If you wanted to."

He taps his mouth, where his breathing mask would be. Isak shakes his head.

"I'll die. I'm not like you." Even's smile grows, and this close Isak notices the way his eyes wrinkle a little when he does it. It's a beautiful sight. No one inside is so open, so free about their feelings.

"I'm just as human as you are," he promises. Isak shakes his head again. "You trust me." It's not a question. It somehow never has been. Isak can only nod.

Even's hand comes up to rest on his cheek. Isak doesn't notice what he's doing because, God, his eyes are so blue.

The breathing mask opens with a click and for a second of panic, Isak thinks he's going to die because he was too busy ogling a pretty boy. But the second passes and he realizes he's still breathing, still alive. The mask falls to the floor, the sand under their shoes keeps it from making any sounds, but Isak isn't thinking about the mask any more. He's busy breathing in and out and in and out and…

Even tilts his head to the side.

"See? Still alive." Isak laughs with him, shakes his head. Then Jonas' words come back to his mind. He's not ready for everything to change. He's not ready to face what this means, to face the fact that everything he's grown up knowing was a lie. Even notices, he has to have noticed, and puts a hand—such a soft hand—on his cheek. "It's alright. I'm here for you. For anything you need."

Isak takes a deep breath, lets it out slowly, nods again.

"The flower." That's the first thing that comes to his mind. Then, "I can breathe. Tell me everything, please. I need to know."

Even nods, takes his hand and pulls him towards the house.

"Not here. It's easier if you see it."

*******

Sana is furious, but he can see the worry behind her frown. Isak apologizes, shows her the hover-bike in perfect state and then goes to his room.

Jonas is sitting on the floor, like usual, sharpening his knife.

"You scared us all," he says, not bothering to look up. Isak sighs, sits next to his friend and looks out the window. He can see the barrier from here. It makes him think of last night, of Even.  


"You were right," Isak says. Jonas looks up at him with an eyebrow raised. "Everything's changed. We need to be ready."


End file.
